1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a manually activated, bidimensional, boundaryless input control system for a computer which is located near the front of the computer keyboard to be accessible to and rotated by the computer operator in one or both of two orthogonally aligned axes of a bidimensional operating field for selectively and accurately controlling the movement and positioning of a video image (e.g. a cursor) over the computer monitor.
2. Background Art
In several computer controlled devices, such as, for example, a computer typewriter, a personal computer, a computer aided drawing machine, and the like, a video image or cursor is moved up and down or sideways over an associated monitor. A typical way of moving the cursor along the monitor is by means of a conventional mouse. The mouse has a spherical ball which rotates when the operator moves the mouse. The cursor is moved along the monitor in a direction and over a distance that corresponds to the direction of rotation and the number of turns completed by the spherical ball of the mouse. Since the mouse provides no precise up, down, left or right senses of direction, use of the mouse, may be, in some cases, difficult and time-consuming, especially in situations where both speed and accurate position control of the cursor are desired.
What is more, the mouse is usually positioned at a remote location from the computer by way of an electrical wire or cable. Thus, the operator of a computer device must remove his hands from an associated keyboard and his eyes from the monitor in order to visually locate and manually operate the mouse. These steps interrupt the computing process, introduce wasteful delay, and interfere with the operator's concentration, particularly when the mouse must be frequently accessed. What is still more, the conventional mouse typically consumes a relatively large amount of space peripheral to the computing device. Hence, use of a mouse may not be practical in those situations where it is preferable to avoid space consuming peripheral devices or where a work space may have little additional room for a mouse, without subjecting the operator to both inconvenience and inefficiency.
The present bidimensional input control system is a boundaryless control system that overcomes the aforementioned problems and inefficiencies associated therewith by replacing the space consuming and remotely located mouse with a highly accurate, easily accessible, and space conserving device which avoids the loss of concentration and the need for the operator to remove his hands and eyes from the keyboard when positioning a cursor on a monitor. The present system has an operational improvement over prior systems, because it is not limited by boundary restrictions in either axis of a bidimensional field, which is a main limitation of such prior systems.
Examples of a system which may be interfaced with a computer to position a cursor on a video monitor are available by referring to one or more of the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
4,712,101 Dec. 8, 1987 PA1 4,724,715 Dec. 16, 1988 PA1 4,799,049 Jan. 28, 1989